The Final Parting
by James' Lily Flower
Summary: At the end of Book 3, the Salvatore brothers add their own diary entries on what both Katherine and Elena meant to them, to the back of Elena’s diary. Spoilers for up to book 3.
1. Stefan

**Rating: **T, dark themes.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Vampire Diaries but thought I'd give the writing a go. It all belongs to L.J. Smith.

**Summary: **_At the end of Book 3, the Salvatore brothers add their own diary entries on what both Katherine and Elena meant to them, to the back of Elena's diary. Spoilers for up to book 3. _

**The Final Parting**

**Chapter 1**

**Stefan**

Stefan had watched as Bonnie placed Elena's blue velvet diary on one of the old wooden shelves in the library. The truth was now placed for anyone that wished to go in search of it in Elena's tidy, slanted handwriting. As he saw Bonnie leave the old oak door, Stefan made his way silently to the shelf and picked up the small hard-backed book.

The pages were thick, like the ones in a fancy notebook not the normal cheap paper found in a school workbook. The pages were slightly creamy yellow, the colour of pages in a well read novel as the ink begins to smudge across the pages. Stefan flicked through the first couple of entries from before he'd known Elena. Many talked of the death of her parents, many about other boys in school. His eyes scanned some that mentioned her holiday in France and then he finally came to the first entry after his first day in Fell's Church. He read these quietly, feeling the pain as he saw some things from her point of view; things that had seemed tiny to him were things that she commented on for pages in her own font.

He slipped over these entries until they stopped suddenly at the date her diary had been stolen. He sighed, remembering the troubles with Caroline and realised that it had been one trouble after another ever since they'd become a couple. His own nature, Damon, Caroline, The Other Power.

After a few pages, the entries continued to after Elena had become a vampire. Some talked of her horror after she'd woken and gone to Damon, when she had forgotten that she was in love with him. The later ones talked of the way she'd felt as they'd looked for the identity of The Other Power, her reaction to the events in the town such as the murderous dogs at her memorial service, saving her younger sister from her cat, feelings of hopelessness as they prepared to face The Other Power. There was talk of unity and sacrifice. Her last few days.

Stefan turned the last page, to the last entry, an addition by Bonnie. It discussed how everyone felt about Elena's second death, how things are changing for the town now, the fact that Stefan had promised to stick with Damon, the fact that the town would forget the truth and life would continue as always. Stefan didn't want to forget and no-one else should. Elena had not weakly died from a natural cause and it should be remembered that she died to save the town. Stefan hardly realised when he pulled a pen off the desk next to him and sat in a nearby armchair. He carefully turned to the next, blank page and began to write his own response to the awful events and to Bonnie's entry.

_16__th__ December,_

_Today was terrible. Awful. The pain is like a part of me died and yet I can still feel it. I don't know if I'll ever stop feeling this pain but I doubt it. Because I can't forget her or the things that she brought to me. Understanding, hope, possibilities for the future; I'd laid my soul out in front of her and she didn't reject it. She brought love to me, to a creature that shouldn't be loved. A dark creature, destined to live off the life substance of other creatures. Human beings. She should have been disgusted and yet she gave me everything. _

_After we arrived on the surface from the crypt, we saw people rejoicing that the attacks were over; maybe they finally felt safe for once. I carried Elena out into the sun, her body still and her eyes closed as if she was in a tranquil sleep. Damon walked beside me, his leather jacket ripped and stained with blood. There was damp blood on my shirt too and the crimson was completely opposite to the silvery paleness of Elena's cold skin. _

_The police approached us as many of the towns-people crowded myself and my brother. Bonnie, Meredith and Matt came, tears flooding down their cheeks as we explained in hushed tones that this time Elena was really dead. Elena's aunt appeared and began to sob over the frail body of the beautiful girl that I held in my arms. She stroked her smooth cheek as I watched four-year-old Margaret look up with teary, wide eyes. I clutched Elena to me as the police tried to remove the body, they questioned what had happened. I answered them quietly and shortly, not really wanting to discuss what had transpired in the crypt. How I had lost her. _

_I know to many people, Elena may have seemed spoilt, always getting what she wanted but I knew there was so much more to her. She __**was **__used to getting what she wanted, true, but she was kind, compassionate, stood up for those who needed it and selfless (when she needed to be). So selfless that she'd died to save the entire town. _

_Just thinking of that moment makes me feel like I've just died once again. The way she looked, her perfect features glowing in the sunlight. I can still feel the fear and powerlessness as I stayed strapped to the gate while the girl I loved burnt in the power of the light. Her face full of pain as she pinned the other pale haired figure to the ground. _

_Katherine. After all this, she had betrayed us. I couldn't believe that all the pain I'd felt for her over the years was a lie. That she hadn't died in fifteenth century Florence. That the fight I'd had with Damon had been pretty much unnecessary, that we hadn't forced her to kill herself. She'd made me live with that guilt for so long. _

_I could still feel that same shock as I'd felt when she first revealed herself to be the Other Power. Sweet, innocent Katherine couldn't be that __**evil**__. She'd always been the perfect, well-raised girl, pure and flawlessly schooled. I was shocked to see the girl that I had once known had become a killer, ruthless, someone full of hatred. And so jealous- to want to kill me for falling in love with Elena, to want to kill Elena because I loved her. _

_I began to feel something that was not quite hate for Katherine (I could never really fully hate her) because of her desires to kill and hurt Elena. I could live with her attempting to kill myself and my brother but to try and harm Elena, who had given her no reason for her murderous thoughts, was simply unforgiveable. She'd brought Damon and I to Fell's Church in the first place, she had to deal with the consequences of that decision, even if it meant us falling in love with another girl. After all, how could I not fall in love with her? How could Katherine have not foreseen it?_

_Elena was beautiful… more beautiful than even Katherine, with her soft, long, golden locks and her bright, clear-blue, shining eyes. Her full lips. She was a wonderful girl, passionate and lively yet giving and redeeming. I'd never deserved her and yet she'd promised me everything. Why not Matt? So caring, he'd have given her anything and would have been so much better for her. And yet she'd chosen me. She'd chosen me over everyone else. Matt. Damon. _

_I was almost proud of my brother for sticking by us. Although I could never forgive his cruel, unforgiving nature and what had happened to us in our past. But none-the-less, he had turned down Katherine's offer to join her in all her power. There must be some good still left in him, for him to have made that decision. I hope so. I promised Elena I would watch his back and we would look after each other. I will __**never **__break a promise I have made to Elena. _

_I know the pain will never leave me and I will wish she was here for as long as I decide to live but I know Elena gave her life for a good cause and that I could never berate her as it's just who she was. A good person who died to save others. She sacrificed herself for a town that will probably not remember why she died. But she won't just be another statistic in the town records. Many people say she was the queen of Robert E Lee School and I believe that. She was so special, so wonderful and I shall love her forever, just as she promised she will love me. And I believe she will, even in death. _

_I love you, Elena. _

_Stefan Salvatore_

_16/12/91_

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_**I haven't read book 4 or any of the new ones yet, so if things are wrong or don't fit, please forgive me. This is my first Vamp Diaries story, so please review and tell me what you think!!! Next up is, of course, Damon. **_

_**With love JLF xx**_


	2. Damon

**Rating: **T, dark themes.

**Disclaimer: **I'm waiting for my copy of the 5th book to arrive, so I don't really think it belongs to me if I've only read the 1st four books.

**Summary: **_At the end of Book 3, the Salvatore brothers add their own diary entries on what both Katherine and Elena meant to them, to the back of Elena's diary. Spoilers for up to book 3. _

**The Final Parting**

**Chapter 2**

**Damon**

Damon stealthily made his way across the floor of the town library. The room was silent; something that Damon rarely got the chance to experience. Generally there was an animal in the forest or wind rustling through the trees. When he was invited into a house, which was also rare, there were humans breathing or a mouse scuttling. He made no noise himself on the old wooden floor, the type that creaked because all the boards were loose.

He'd heard in Bonnie's mind that she'd placed Elena's diary here. He gave a bitter laugh as he remembered all the troubles they'd been through for the small, blue velvet covered book. He'd never entirely understood why so many humans and even his brother wrote their most private thoughts in books such as this one. Elena had proved the problems with that when hers had been kidnapped by Caroline.

He reached the place in the bookshelf where he knew Bonnie had placed the diary. The small journal seemed fragile in amongst the vast volumes that it were placed either side of it. Like Elena. She'd always seemed so fragile to Damon, the small human who'd been unable to resist him. Well physically anyway. She'd resisted him romantically and had stayed true to his younger brother.

Damon couldn't even begin to imagine what Elena's death had done to Stefan. He'd hardly spoken since, only when absolutely necessary and he spent all his time alone in his room. He'd taken Elena's death worse than he'd taken Katherine's. Damon was uncharacteristically worried about his brother. Could Stefan survive through another death of a woman he loved?

Damon couldn't help but pick up the blue book, like he hadn't been able to resist coming here in the first place. The start of the entries were generally boring, dealing with life before Damon had arrived in Fell's Church. But Damon showed more interest when he saw the entries that discussed his first meeting with Elena. He could remember Elena's fear for him as he read over these couple of pages, but such things seemed trivial now after all the troubles they'd had since Elena had become a vampire. He had changed from being the most dangerous thing to her. He came to the last entry that talked about how hopeless things were against The Other Power and the memories of what had happened in the crypt made Damon feel stone cold.

Finally Damon came to the entry that Bonnie had put in. Damon felt sorry for the young girl, already dealing with a close friend's death. Humans always struggled with such a topic because life to humans was so weak and short. She seemed in awe of Elena, especially for the sacrifice she had given.

Next was an entry written by Stefan and Damon flipped over the page because it seemed almost too personal to read. Damon knew normally he would have read it whether it was private to Stefan or not. Things that involved Elena were often much more complicated than normal but Damon was surprised none-the-less that he didn't breach Stefan's private last words about the girl he loved.

Damon paused, wondering how he felt about Elena's death. He was upset, of course, but he'd never particularly mourned loss of life. There was only one time he'd been this upset about a death and that was the time he'd thought Katherine was dead. He wasn't quite sure how to describe what he felt, he needed to tell someone but there was no-one he was willing to admit such feelings to. He supposed he'd found the point of the diary, to sort out his emotions and with that, Damon, feeling a little stupid, began to write.

_17__th__ December, _

_La vita è crudele. _

_-Life is cruel. I've always know that. Often I've been the one who's dealt the deathly blows. But I would've never dealt this one. I'd have never killed her. Not Elena. _

_I had wanted Elena with me, by my side, all powerful- forever. I'd fought for her against my brother, furious when she seemed to choose him and not me. But she'd eventually had to give in to me. I can remember my brother's face after he thought I'd killed her. Furious, his eyes deathly. He wanted to kill me then but she'd stopped him. Those brief few days with her were special, though I didn't show her. The ones where I cared for her as she came to me in her confusion and not Stefan. The feeling of power as I guided her towards the hunt, only to be stopped by her realisation of who she really loved. _

_Elena was beautiful. I'd only met one other like her in my five-hundred years. It was easy to see why my brother adored her. Her eyes such a piercing blue, her hair long and silky. She was slim, so stunning. Full lips that were rosy pink. I'd wanted her the minute I'd seen her. And I usually got what I wanted, especially when it came to women. I was surprised when I hadn't got Elena. She was so strong in her mind and she could've been so much stronger if she'd allowed me to teach her the darker ways of our kind. The true ways. The ones that Stefan had always denied himself. _

_I'm not quite sure how I feel about Elena's death. Grief that I've never felt before. When Katherine died, or so we thought, I'd been consumed with fury for Stefan. How dare he try to take what was rightfully mine, pull her away from me, until she felt there was no other way but to destroy herself? With Elena it was different. There was no anger, though I covered my emotions in a cloud of it. Pretended to my brother and her friends that I was furious about those events. I felt a deep sorrow, sharper in my breast than the blade that pierced my heart when my brother killed me. Stronger than the hatred when I believed Katherine's death was his fault. Stronger than the love I'd felt for these two women before they'd died. _

_Katherine's dead too, I remind myself. I know I will need all my strength to deal with her death a second time. Katherine was so special. When she was younger, she was the perfect prize for a young aristocrat. I'd chased her with such longing, need, desire and she hadn't turned me away. I'd become a man for the first time when I'd met her. I'd loved her the minute I'd set eyes on her even though I'd known Stefan had his eyes on her. I'd loved Katherine so deeply, so passionately. I'd always felt arrogant around her, knowing she'd give into me easily… or so I'd thought. _

_Stefan should have let me have her. I was the older brother and yet he always got everything that should have been mine. But now, I just can't hate him anymore… not after all the pain our hate has caused. Katherine. The fears of the last five-hundred years. Fights over Elena. And now after the promise Stefan had made to Elena, I knew he would try to ease the gap between us. I wasn't going to make it easy for him, but somehow, my brother had become slightly more important to me during recent events. Not that I'd let him know that, or anyone else for that matter. I had to help keep him sane after the loss of Elena. _

_I don't know what will happen now, but I know that Elena and Katherine's memories with live with me forever. They were such special women in such completely different ways. Life is cruel and loss is a part of life. The only way to continue is by looking forward and not to the past. _

_Damon Salvatore_

_17/12/91_

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**I found this really hard to write, trying to keep in Damon's character... I hope you think it's okay. I do think Damon cares a lot more than he lets on and my belief is that he loves Katherine and Elena... maybe Katherine more... I also think by this point he must be beginning to feel more positively towards Stefan. So I hope you think it was okay, you'll have to tell me in your reviews! **

_**"La vita è crudele"** _**means "_life is cruel" _if you didn't get that. **

**And that is the end... I'm planning to write an extra scene to the end of The Reunion, so keep an eye out for that.**

**With love JLF xx**


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